July/August 2014 • Volume 58 Issue 4 TABLE OF JULY/AUGUST 2014 | VOLUME 58, ISSUE 4 contentscontents Features New Member Review of the 2014 FCF 6 Convention Scottsdale, Arizona Cynthia Stimpson found the Convention a great way to get more involved with the cats. 1414 Where Are All Those “Crazy Cat Lady” People 14 at Convention? Olivia Robertson and the Walk on the Wild Side gang were excited to attend this year’s Convention. My N.O.A.H. Internship 17 Kassandra Jermyn gets plenty of hands-on experience. Tracking Cats with Satellites: Tagg the Pet 22 Tracker Review Maxene Price chose this GPS system for her serval. Thank You for the Feline Husbandry Course 24 Marisa Katnic could only stay for the class but found it well worth the trip. An Extraordinary Tiger 25 Vera Chaples has put Spike through every kind of diagnostic test to help get him back on track. Husbandry and Beyond 29 Convention first-timer Kae Hamilton took advantage of all Convention had to offer. Husbandry Leads to Animal Sense! 30 Andrea Sobokta to lead an Animal Sense Workshop at Out of Africa in November. 1717 2727 1111 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 58, Issue 4 • July/August 2014 JOIN THE FCF IN ITS CONSERVATION EFFORTS WWW.FELINECONSERVATION.ORG A membership to the FCF entitles you to six issues of the Journal, the back-issue DVD, an invitation to FCF husbandry and wildlife education courses and annual convention, and participation in our online discussion group. The FCF works to improve captive feline husbandry and conservation. The FCF supports captive and wild habitat protection, and provides support for captive husbandry, breeding programs, and public education. Send $35 annual dues ($40 Canada, $50 international) to FCF, 141 Polk Road 664, Mena, AR 71953. Features cont. Contact Us Wildlife Conservation Educators 31 Course Review FOUNDER: DIRECTORS: Serval owner Lynn Northern- Catherine Cisin Conservation Spanganberg hopes to add other Pat Callahan felines and educational programs EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: 1961 Connecticut Ave to her future. Lynn Culver Cincinnati, OH 45224 [email protected] 513-541-7867 Wild Species Registry Update – [email protected] 34 Phase 1 of the Initial Release OFFICERS: Wild Species Registry team is President Chris Tromborg about ready to unveil a new reg- Kevin Chambers 217 Baja Avenue istry program supported by FCF 7816 N CR 75 W Davis, CA 95616 grants. Shelburn, IN 47879 530-753-2763 812-397-2302 [email protected] [email protected] Jim Sanderson, Ph.D. Species Vice President 356 Freeman Street Mindy Stinner Hartford, CT 06106 Arabian Wildlife P.O. Box 882 505-720-1204 7 Balazs Buzas introduces us to Mebane, NC 27302 [email protected] the five cats of the desert and 336-421-0065 mountains. [email protected] JOURNAL STAFF: Managing Editor: Management of Mountain Lions Secretary Lynn Culver 27 in Arizona Debi Willoughby April Howard, wildlife biologist, 281 Albee Road Layout/Copy Editor: says the big cats are hard to Uxbridge, MA 01569 Eden Tran, [email protected] study. 508-380-4722 [email protected] Associate Editor: Judith Hoffman Treasurer Husbandry Lynn Culver Membership Services: 141 Polk Road 664 Jennifer Kasserman Mena, AR 71953 816-674-7277 Raising Spots: The Asian Leop- 479-394-5235 membershipservices 32 ard Cat Vs. the Geoffroy’s Cat [email protected] @felineconservation.org James Sublett and Sheri DeFlo- rio compare the two tiny felines. The Feline Conservation Federation publishes the Journal Blast from the Past: Fractures in Organization bimonthly. The FCF is non-profit, (Federal ID#59-2048618) 35 Ocelots with Juvenile Osteo- noncommercial,and international in membership, devoted to porosis the welfare and conservation of exotic felines. John P Hunter, DVM, and Letter from the President Catherine Cisin explain calcium 4 The Journal publishes articles on exotic feline conservation deficiencies and bone fractures. and husbandry, management, and regulatory and legislative issues affecting ownership for our members. The author’s From the Executive Director point of view does not necessarily represent the point of view 5 of the organization. Reproduction of any material in the Jour- Legislation nal may not be made without the written permission of the Update from the Legislation original copyright owners and/or copyright owner, FCF. Registered Handlers 28 Director 31 Letters to the editor and guest editorials are also published. Amy Flory says we had some Display advertisement space is available at the following wins, some losses, and some prices: $10 business card, $25.00 quarter page, $50.00 half still to go. 23 Donations page, and $100 full-page ad. Submission deadline for articles and advertisements is the 10th of even numbered months. Pictorials Second Quarter Board of Please submit high resolution 37 photos and articles to the Journal Directors Minutes Your Best Shots Managing Editor. Photos and arti- 20 Pat Quillen, Robert Hohn, Fred cles may be emailed to Hood, Tina Bayer, Ashley Vagg, General Membership [email protected], or Courtney Frenchak. 38 Meeting Minutes, June 2014 send by postal service to: 141 Polk 664, Mena, AR 71953. Copyright © 2014 Feline Conservation Federation. All rights reserved. Some material is reprinted with permission of other copyright holders. 3 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 58, Issue 4 • July/August 2014 Letter from the President Elsewhere in this newsletter, on page By helping the Wild Species Registry you keep. Even though needed to keep 34, you can read about the status of the become operational, we are placing the good records, many of the fields may be Wild Species Registry and the FCF’s tools needed to establish organized breed- kept private where they cannot be viewed involvement with it. At the convention ing programs for our animals to exist. unless you give permission for that person board meeting, the FCF board approved a Call it an investment in our future, if you to see them. This tool has long been $3,000 donation to this project and will. In the past, it has been very difficult needed and the FCF is proud to be promised future support. Why do we feel for someone to find out the ancestry of an involved in its implementation. You will that this is such an important project? animal when trying to find potential mates be hearing lots more on this project as Well, one of the most frequently heard for their animals. This will give us a way things progress. statements by our detractors is that the pri- to keep good genetic records, make The nomination period for the 2014 vately held animals are of little genetic informed decisions on pairings, and keep election to the Board of Directors ended value and that there is no true conserva- the genetic health of each species at the August 10. The present board members tion being done by private breeders. The optimum level as may be done. The beau- all accepted their automatic re-nomina- current studbooks are kept by the AZA ty of this registry is that a breeder need tions except for Jim Sanderson. There and they contain very few non-AZA ani- not be involved in an organized breeding was only one nomination received from mals and would not consider allowing an program and may make those decisions the membership and that was Robert Bean animal from a non-AZA facility into any independently, if they so desire. The reg- for director. As a result, there is a full of their breeding programs unless the ani- istry is also not open for just anyone to slate of nominees, but only one for each mal was transferred to an AZA facility. check into how many and what species position, so there are no contested races. The Board held a meeting in late August, and decided to do the election differently this year. The cost of an election general- ly costs the organization around $1,000 in printing, postage, and counting costs. Since none of the races are contested and write-in votes are not allowed in the con- stitution, the Board decided that since the outcome is basically pre-determined, we could save the organization the $1,000 and hold the election on the forums this year. The constitution, bylaws, and pro- grams and policies were reviewed to make sure that this would be allowed. In the September/October issue of the Journal, you will receive full instructions on when, where, and how to vote using the FCF website’s Members-Only section. That issue will also include full biographies of all the candidates running for the Board. Kevin Chambers 4 Feline Conservation Federation Volume 58, Issue 4 • July/August 2014 From the Executive Director By Lynn Culver in a domestic environment that they would there until her recent death. Loreon was indeed become pets and the barbaric prac- awarded the Lotty for her contributions to One of the FCF’s earliest members, tice of taking them from the wild would ocelot breeding and in the 1980s the LIOC Loreon Vigne, passed away quietly at cease. held a convention at her Isis Oasis. home on July 15th. Loreon’s FCF mem- Loreon’s early contributions to the Not many members have spanned so bership number was 214, and that tells Long Island Ocelot Club newsletter many decades of cat ownership that you something. She joined the Long included “The True Romance of Trilby included breeding, rescue, and exhibiting. Island Ocelot Club in 1962, when it was Ocelot,” illustrated by Mike Balbo. Writ- Loreon continued to breed ocelots long operated out of Amagansett, New York, ten in a humorous and playful way, in after most owners gave up in response to by Catherine Cisin.